Oral Care Kits
Oral care kits for performing a multi-treatment oral care cycle are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,866,477 discloses an oral care kit comprising a substantially rectangular box having oral care packs positioned therein. Each oral care pack contains oral care devices for administering oral care treatment during a 24 hour oral care treatment cycle. The oral care packs are useful for treating intubated patients in the hospital intensive care unit (ICU).
The fact that each compartment may store a different type of oral care pack allows the user (e.g. a nurse in an ICU) to keep track of the different types of oral-care treatments, and in particular to apply the correct number of treatments in the correct ratio.
United States Patent Publication 20110155612 shows another example of an oral care kit.
An additional prior art example (see FIG. 1A) of an oral care kit is available from Sage Products. This oral care kit comprises a plurality of packs (for example, 3 individual packs that are attached to each other). Each individual pack is sealed. Upon opening of an individual pack, the pack is opened irreversibly and the seal is broken irreversibly.
Within each pack of the prior art oral care kit is both a sponged-rod device (i.e. a rod with a sponge at the end) and a lumened toothbrush-suction hybrid device (used interchangeable with the term ‘suction-lumened-toothbrush’). Both sponged-rod devices and suction-lumened brushes are examples of ‘rodded oral care devices.’
The devices of FIGS. 1B-1D are all rodded oral care devices; the device of FIG. 1B is suction-lumened-toothbrush.
Prior art oral care kits often include sachets of flowable media as well—for example, sachets of disinfectant or mouth moisturizer (i.e. to be applied to the gums).
As is known in the art, oral care kits typically have multiple packages and each package (e.g. sealed packaged or oral care apparatus between two partitioned) has a predetermined number of each type of device. To perform an oral care cycle, a caregiver first opens a first packages having a predetermined count of each type of device and uses every oral care device within the first package. Then the caregiver opens a second packages having a predetermined count (i.e. the same count or different counts) of each type of device. And so on.
Because the caregiver will typically use each oral care device sequentially and only for one session, it is possible for manufacturers to help caregivers comply with a specific oral care cycle by including the correct number of each type of oral care device within each individual package.
Suction-Lumened Toothbrushes and Sponged Rod Devices—Examples of Devices Employed for (i) Toothbrushing Sessions and (ii) Soft-Tissue-Lubrication Sessions
As noted above, oral care kits (e.g. the kit of FIG. 1A) may include both: (i) suction lumened toothbrush(es); and (ii) sponged rod device(s), where sponge material is mounted to an end of a rod. Both are examples of rodded oral-care devices. As discussed in this section, (i) the suction lumened toothbrush is used (e.g. by nurses) respectively to subject patients (e.g. in ICUs) ‘toothbrushing sessions’ and (ii) and the sponged rod device are is used (e.g. by nurses) to subject patients (e.g. in ICUs) to ‘soft-tissue lubrication sessions.’
Thus, oral care kits (e.g. the kit of FIG. 1A) may include one or more suction lumened toothbrushes. Suction lumened toothbrushes include a suction lumen along the length of the toothbrush and toothbrush bristles at a distal end. Commercially available suction-lumened toothbrushes typically include (i) a proximal connector (e.g. tapered) at the proximal end of the suction lumen and (ii) a distal suction orifice the distal end of the suction lumen. When the proximal connector is connected to a source of negative pressure, matter (e.g. biofilm) is first suctioned into the suction lumen via the distal suction orifice, and then transported through the suction lumen in a proximal direction.
These features of suctioned lumened toothbrushes allow for the caregiver (e.g. a nurse) to simultaneously brush that patient's teeth and suction matter out of our his/her mouth matter. During a ‘toothbrushing session,’ brushing of the subject's teeth is the dominant mode of operation—optionally, there may be a certain minimal amount of lubrication of soft tissue of the subject's mouth, but the dominant mode of operation during a toothbrushing session is to brush the subject's teeth rather than to lubricate soft-tissue of the patient's mouth rather. Another required feature of toothbrushing sessions is suctioning of matter from the subject's mouth by applying a suction source to a suction lumen so that matter (i.e. driven by negative pressure in the suction lumen and from the suction source) while the subject's teeth are brushed.
As noted above, in addition to suctioned lumened toothbrushes, oral care kits may also include one or more sponged rod devices.
A sponged rod device (i.e. sponge material mounted to an end of a rod) is typically used for ‘soft tissue lubrication’ operations. A soft tissue lubrication session is performed by a caregiver (e.g. nurse) upon a human subject (e.g. intubated patient in the ICU) and is characterized primarily by lubricating contact between the sponge (e.g. which may hold a cleaning fluid—e.g. comprising a disinfectant) and soft tissue (e.g. lips, gums) of the human subject's mouth—optionally, there may be a certain minimal amount of brushing of the subject's teeth, but the dominant mode of operation during a soft tissue lubrication is to lubricate soft-tissue of the patient's mouth rather than brushing the subject's teeth. Optionally, during soft tissue lubrication sessions matter is suctioned from the subject's mouth.
The term “mouth-moisturizing” session (or operation) is used interchangeably with soft-tissue-lubrication session (or operation) or ‘gum-moisturizing’ session (or operation) or soft-tissue moisturizing session (or operation).
Concluding Remarks
There is an ongoing need for systems and methods which facilitate oral care in the ICU at a reduced cost and/or in a manner that reduces the amount of space required in the ICU.
The following issued patents and patent publications provide potentially relevant background material, and are all incorporated by reference in their entirety: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,186,782, 6,766,548, 6,920,659, 8,453,285, US 20110155612 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,866,477. Any feature or combination of features disclosed in any of the aforementioned prior art documents may be combined with any feature disclosed herein.